MYLR/P Winter Range : will it make 300km/187mi?

[-ATF-]

Once a year I do this trip during the Xmas holidays to my folks home (400km/250mi). They live in a pretty rural area where charging infrastructure is abysmal. I have access to a SC where I am, but the only place to charge going towards my folks home is a level 3 at 300km/187mi away. Of course I'd leave with 100 % charge and precondition etc. etc., but we do not have a garage.
Additional info :

• Winter here can get to -30C/-20ish F. (rarely -40, normaly -20C/-4F)
• The speed limit on the road to my folks place is posted at 80km/50mi. I don't mind obeying it.

My question is: would the MYLR and MYP reach the lvl 3 charger 300 km away during harsh winter conditions?

I've tried ABRP with very limited success in getting an answer to this question, mostly because I'm not actually sure what to expect in terms of wh/km to plug into the app.

Thanks for the help.

 

[Rocky_H]

I've tried ABRP with very limited success in getting an answer to this question, mostly because I'm not actually sure what to expect in terms of wh/km to plug into the app.

You shouldn't have to enter that. The whole point of ABRP or www.evtripplanner.com is that you enter the vehicle type and speed and outside and inside temperature, and it calculates what that wh/km value is.

But overall, 187 miles in cold that bad does sound like it might be a bit tight, although the 50 mph speed does help a whole lot. I think it sounds pretty reasonable, but not comfortable enough for me to say absolutely.

 

[jcanoe]

You also have to consider the road conditions (snow, ice or wet versus dry) and any headwinds. Plug a really high Wh/mile or Wh/km number in ABRP.

Fully precondition for ~30 minutes or longer while plugged in before you start driving.

Use the heated seats and heated steering wheel. As much as possible leave the heat at a minimal setting, just enough so the windows don't fog.

Maintain minimum posted speeds at least for the first half of the trip. The Tesla Energy Screen display of consumption for the trip will be an accurate indicator of whether you will be able to complete the trip without stopping to charge. Re-evaluate at the half way point, adjust speed and climate control settings if needed to reach the charging stop or destination.

Download PlugShare onto your phone. A typical 6kW rated Level 2 charging stop can add ~20 miles of range per hour.

 

[GtiMart]

Choose the proper car model and wheels in ABRP and it will provide a good baseline consumption. If you link ABRP with your car it will get a better value but the default is good enough. Go in advanced settings and set it to the maximum harshness you will see: -25C, some headwind, snow on the ground. Tell it you will do the speed limit and no more. See what it says. When advanced parameters are set properly, I've found ABRP to be really good at its estimates.

I unfortunately don't have a lot of driving data in very cold weather, I haven't been moving much because of covid. Still, here's my graph (over 2.5 years) from my model 3 LR AWD that does NOT have a heat pump. You have one so you'll be a bit better.

You'll see I only get 80% efficiency in summer because I drive 120kph (allegedly) on the highway. That translates to ~180wh/km in warm weather and 250wh/km in the coldest zone. You should do better because of the heat pump and going slower.

EDIT: I'm curious what "level 3" charger you're talking about. If it's not a supercharger, you'd need a CHAdeMO or CCS adapter... Do you have that?

 

[MY-Y]

Here's my 2020 MY AWD 19" (heat pump)

 

[-ATF-]

Wow thanks everyone. This is really helping me better understand ABRP and the MY. Thank you!

The level 3 charger is at a Canadian Tire/IVY. Would require an adapter, not sure more about the details. Got the information from ChargeHub app.

 

[dogmodes]

Was just going to say have you looked if there are any CCS stations and maybe get an adapter. I know I wouldn’t make it in my MYLR with 20’s and winter tires, I averaged 338 wh/mi last winter. Did you check PlugShare to see if there’s any L2 chargers along the way? A restaurant with a 11kW charger in the middle might get you over the hump.

 

[-ATF-]

Was just going to say have you looked if there are any CCS stations and maybe get an adapter. I know I wouldn’t make it in my MYLR with 20’s and winter tires, I averaged 338 wh/mi last winter. Did you check PlugShare to see if there’s any L2 chargers along the way? A restaurant with a 11kW charger in the middle might get you over the hump.

The only chargers (L2/L3) are 300km/187mi away. It’s completely depleted of infrastructure. Too bad because the one place we always stop is halfway (for gas, food) but they haven’t installed anything in form of charging infrastructure.

I would 100% get 19 inch winter tires regardless if I get the MYLR or MYP. I don’t see any reason to have them on a 20 or 21 rim. Your numbers seem to confirm that’s something to consider.

Thanks for your input!

 

[Whitehawk]

Just rent something for a once a year trip. Driving an EV long distance in extreme cold without any reasonable charging solutions should be avoided. Getting stuckin a snow bank with a 10% charge could be deadly. With an ICE you can at least keep the tank topped off.

 

[mstatkus]

I’d keep a eye out on new superchargers too. I had my entire Banff trip re-planned within weeks due to 2 new ones going in which cut my original trip from 11+ hrs down to 6. I also would have PlugShare and a backup plan for alternative charging. Or even flip over to a 3rd party EV in ABRP to see what spots it shows as you could use these for backup. Even on winters in my area with a coastal storm, sub 40F temps, heavy rain, wind I can easily lose 14%.
The next trick is of course slowing down to hyper range a bit but when its that cold. I’ve just come to find many of the 3rd party charging options are 1 out of 5 times what I expected, and the other times a living nightmare. Either not the speed advertised, kiosk issues, charge faults and when you got a phone in one hand, and a charge cord in another at those temps I’d want to scream.

 

[Calliope]

As was said, road conditions matter, as does your speed, and how much is uphill -- my MY won't do the 300 km to the cottage on the highway without a charge along the way, but that involves a lot of uphill, and speeds of about 116 km/h. If I take a slower route with more gradual hills and a speed of 90 km/h, I can get there.

 

[Brolan]

It's hard to say on your scenario. My winter experience is that you can lose up to half your range when the temperatures are well below zero Fahrenheit. On the other hand you are willing to drive at very efficient speed. I would say to get a good feeling for your range by driving at the speed you indicated in cold temperatures and see what your range is. Then make a determination based on that.

 

[Colorado Y]

You'll see I only get 80% efficiency in summer because I drive 120kph (allegedly) on the highway. That translates to ~180wh/km in warm weather and 250wh/km in the coldest zone. You should do better because of the heat pump and going slower.

Veerry interesting. I just got my MYLR at the start of July. When I looked in mid-August it said it had consumed 175 kWh, but my July electric bill was nearly DOUBLE what it was in the previous two Julys. (Avg in 20-21 was 1245 kWh, this July it was 2094 !? Roughly 20 kWh of the MY's charging was on a SC, and roughly 70 kWh of my consumption went into my brother's visiting M3LR. So in theory the two Teslas consumed 175 - 20 + 70 = 225 kWh, but my bill was 850 kWh higher than previous Julys.

I charge with a Mobile Charger on a 110V outlet, so I'm only getting 80% efficiency. That would suggest the outlet actually fed out 225 / 80% = 281 kWh. That's still a LOT less than the 850 extra kWh on my bill. Maybe I need to check my AC ...

 

[jcanoe]

It is not surprising that your electric utility bill was so much higher. There is a heat load that needs to be factored in for every living person in the room/home. Your house guest(s) added to the heat load that the AC system needed to handle. That plus additional indoor cooking generated additional heat. Opening the front door more than usual allowed the cool air to escape and warm air to enter the home.

 

[Colorado Y]

Valid points, but I doubt they would account for an extra 550-600 kWh. They were only here for 4 days, we mostly ate out, and we spent a lot of time out & about.

(And I think we're all bozos on this bus. )

 

[jcanoe]

Valid points, but I doubt they would account for an extra 550-600 kWh. They were only here for 4 days, we mostly ate out, and we spent a lot of time out & about.

(And I think we're all bozos on this bus. )

You can compare the kWh as shown on the utility bill for one month to the next or July '22 versus July '21 etc. When you view the energy consumption displayed on the Trips screen inside the vehicle that is only the energy consumed while driving. This does not consider charging losses, as noted ~20% when you charge using Level 1, or the energy used to precondition the Tesla vehicle.

When I charge my LRMY I typically for ~90 minutes using a public Level 2 charger that enables charging at a 6kW charging rate. This adds ~9kWh to the battery in an hour and a half. In summer I have been observing an average consumption of 250Wh/mi or 4 miles per kWh. 9kWh should enable me to travel roughly 36 miles yet when I plug in I typically will have driven only ~25 miles which should have only used ~6kWh. The additional 3kWh was used to precondition the Model Y while parked, before driving, and to cool the battery after having arrived at a destination. Except when completing a charging session the preconditioning always happens while not plugged in. In this case approximately 1/3rd of the total kWh consumed was for other than driving.

 

[Colorado Y]

If that's true -- if the excess kWhs on my bill are all from charging, conditioning, etc -- then this is a helluva lot more expensive vehicle than I realized.

I didn't think to account for preconditioning &etc. I naively thought it was about 75 kWh to charge 0-to-100%, which is supposed to get about 325 miles, 75 kWh at $0.135/kWh costs me $10.13, so $10.13 / 3.25 = $3.17 per 100 miles.

I drove roughly 500 miles on my July utility bill. The bill was 850 kWh higher than the previous July average, about 775 kWh higher if I subtract charging my brother's M3LR. If that's all charging/etc, then it's costing 775 / 500 = 1.55 kWh per mile, about $20.93 per 100 miles. That's **6.6 TIMES** higher than I thought. Hell it's more than the ~$15-$17 per 100 miles a 30mpg ICE car would cost! That can't be right ...

 

[GtiMart]

Something doesn't add up. 850kWh is huge. If you charge on a 120V outlet (thus at 1.44kW), you would have needed to be plugged and charging for over 24 days non stop, 24h per day. Preconditioning in summer would just run the AC for a while, it wouldn't completely drain the battery and it would stop automatically after a couple hours if you didn't drive the car.
Clearly the bulk of your bill doesn't come from there. Stop thinking about the car and look elsewhere.

 

[jcanoe]

500 miles for July is just over 16 miles per day. Using Level 1 charging (120V @12 amps, 1.4kW), assuming 3 miles of ranged added per hour and 80% efficiency you would need to charge, on average 6.6 hours per day. That's about 8.5kWh per day X 31 days, a total of 260 kWh just for driving. Add another 100 kWh per month for preconditioning, etc and you are at 360 kWh. 360kWh X $0.135/kWh = $48.60. Roughly $50 to drive 500 miles at a final cost of $0.10 per mile. This is higher than might expected (between $0.04 and $0.07 per mile) but no where close to the $0.20 to $0.25 per mile cost of fuel when driving an ICE vehicle. (For comparison I drive mostly short trips of under 5 miles and always precondition my LRMY. I estimate my cost would be $0.07 per mile for the electricity I use except I do all of my charging at a free to use public charging station. If you can charge at work you should be able to cut your cost per mile at least in half.)

 

[Colorado Y]

I agree @GtiMart, something's not right. I wonder... I leave the Mobile Charger plugged in to the wall 24x7, and only plug it in to the car when needed. Could that thing be draining power all the time??? Maybe I should get a clamp-on current meter ...

@jcanoe I'm self-employed, working from home. So I AM charging at work, but that doesn't help me much.